Zoning Panel Approves Elderly Housing Plans

ENFIELD — The planning and zoning commission has approved plans for 150 units of housing for the elderly on a 70-acre parcel near the Massachusetts border.

The plans were submitted by Windsor developer John A. Coccomo Sr. for his property on North Maple Street.

Plans call for 150 one- and two-bedroom, one-level red brick cottages and a central community building that would offer health, social, cultural and other services.

Coccomo couldn't be reached for comment Friday. But he said in an interview earlier this year that the cottages would sell for between $140,000 and $160,000. Coccomo's lawyer, Dennis McCormack, said Friday that price is still ``in the target range.'' Residents would pay communal fees for security, meals and grounds maintenance.

McCormack said Coccomo hopes to start building the first phase of the development next spring.

``It's a radically different concept of congregate housing,'' McCormack said. ``It's like a private single-family dwelling along with the services and security of the communal, congregate type.''

Coccomo's plans were dogged for years by taxes and other problems. Coccomo was listed as one of the town's biggest tax delinquents earlier this year as a result of back taxes owed on the North Maple Street property. Coccomo inherited the taxes when he foreclosed on the previous owners in 1993. He has since paid all the taxes.

Coccomo has built several nursing homes in Massachusetts. In Enfield, he built the Dartmoor condominiums on Mayfield Street and Olde Maple Farms.